Content in Plenty
10 01 2009I’ve been going a little crazy for the past two hours…typing away on my baby laptop, going in circles trying to figure out what it is that seems to have been bothering me all day…
I’ve been thinking a lot about all that I’ve seen so far in these past two weeks in Africa… and now, seeing all these MINIs driving around Cape Town has served as a constant reminder that my one month’s car payment can pay for an entire year of school fees for two children in Uganda… It’s hard to think of all that I’m blessed with back home, when I’ve visited families and children who struggle to find even just one meal a day.
I read this verse today in Philippians 4: “…I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances…I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”
I thankfully have never gone hungry, I’ve never been extremely sick, and I’ve always had more than I could ever need. But after this 7-week journey, and after seeing firsthand the suffering that people face each day all over the world, I know I will have to learn to be content in any and every situation, just like Paul. Content in plenty, or in want.
It’s ok to recognize and accept God’s blessings…but I’m sure there will be things in my life that will change when I get back home… I want to be content with all God has blessed me with, but I also want to be wise with how I handle all that he gives me…
For now, I’ll leave you with a photo from this afternoon. Liz and I met with a Xhosa pastor named Phumezo, who took us around Khayelitsha, the fastest growing township in South Africa sitting at a population of about 2 million people. This incredibly large township (along with so many other townships around South Africa) is a result of the Apartheid and the Group Areas Act of 1950, when non-whites were forced to leave their homes and relocate to the outskirts of town. Although some people have now been able to build small houses, and the government is even starting to give houses back to residents of the townships, most people still live in small tin shacks, some with no electricity or running water. The houses in this photo that stretch all the way to the horizon are only a piece of what makes up Khayelitsha.
Richard Venable
blanca
liz
Thanks for all of your stories and pictures so far because they’re opening my eyes as well as those of my children to the different needs in Africa. It’s been a great heart lesson (as well as homeschool lesson) for us all! Both Alex and Anna have renewed their desire to be missionaries some day. Alex has also been reading missionary stories and Foxes Book of Martyrs. We’re looking forward to all the adventures God will lead you on the rest of your trip. Blessings!
I also wanted to share just one more blog (blog.mochaclub.org) that we’ve been looking at to learn more about the situation in Africa. Hope it’s helpful to someone else, too.
I think of the verse: “To whom much has been given, much will be required.”
This is such an encouraging promise to me! I know God will use me much because He has given me so much. It’s all His and I want to use it all for Him. And I know this is true of y’all also:)
It is so hard to be content in plenty after seeing so many in need … but it is the only way that we can use all of what God has given us to glorify Him. If we spend all our time feeling down and guilty about where we are in life, we can’t live for Him and follow His will.
I think this is a huge insight. The tension you’ve described is something that so many people never grapple with, and I think it’s necessary if we’re to recognize that God is in fact orchestrating our lives (and our circumstances in life) for His purposes. Well written.
Excellent insight, Martha.